TO maximize food production, a farmers’ cooperative in Barangay Tabunan, Cebu City has entered a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for them to plant fruit trees and bamboo.
Romeo Pador and Josefina Omlero of the Cebu Farmers’ Marketing Cooperative said they signed the agreement last month after attending seminars conducted by DENR on tourism, agro-forestry and fruit planting.
Pador said that for this year, their cooperative received P670,000 and they paid their members P10 for each bamboo seedling planted. The 30 percent of the total amount will be retained for the cooperative.
The DENR will release another amount in 2015 for the planting of fruit trees like guyabano, cacao, jackfruit and rambutan.
Pador said they don’t know yet how much DENR will allocate for January, but definitely it is a big amount because this will be a massive fruit tree planting.
Guyabano fruit is in demand in Mandaue City, where guyabano health drink is manufactured. The other parts of the guyabano fruit are being grinded by the same factory as alleged ingredient for herbal medicines.
Napoleon Sentillas, the chairman of the Guadalupe Community Multipurpose Cooperative, organized the Cebu Farmers’ Cooperative to uplift the living condition of the people in Tabunan who were always victimized by middlemen.
Pechay
Some middlemen buy their pechay and string beans at P2 and P4 per kilo, respectively, when the prices are P40 and P50, respectively at Carbon market and malls.
The farmers’ cooperative started with P9,000 in share capital in 2011. The share capital increased to P18,000 in 2012 and P543,000 in 2013.
Pador and Omlero said they expected their shares to further increase this year because of the increase in marketing activities and the funds provided for by DENR based on their agreement.
Sentillas said Guadalupe Cooperative is helping the farmers’ cooperative in purchasing one truck to be used for delivery of fruits and vegetables.
“I believe that the farmers can directly deal with hotels, restaurants and malls at the reasonable price if they have the transportation facility,” Sentillas said.
Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera, the chairperson of the Cebu City Cooperative Development Council, said the City Government can help the farmers’ cooperative by subsidizing their mandatory seminars required by the Cooperative Development Authority. EOB